STH Chapter 68

“I can definitely confirm that the aurichalcite comes from the central province.” The unscrupulous cultivator sighed as he continued: “Back then everything was messy and the rumour that spread like wildfire was that the demon emperor had snatched the Desolate Pagoda to be his funerary object when his time came. The Desolate Pagoda did indeed go missing and many people believed that it was done by him. Besides this, there was a more hidden rumour that said that the Desolate Pagoda was not stolen by the demon emperor, he was certainly looking for funerary objects but he had actually stolen the central province’s mysterious object. Regarding this aurichalcite, it was mysterious and unfathomable, few people within the eastern badlands knew of it and even if they had heard of it before, they would not understand it clearly.”

“You’re making your judgements based on all this?” Ye Fan had an expression of befuddlement.

“The demon emperor’s burial mound, no Desolate Pagoda ever appeared, refuting the first legend. I immediately thought of the aurichalcite.” Having said this, the unscrupulous cultivator slapped himself: “I never imaged that after hunting treasures for my entire lifetime, I would be fooled by the seemingly mundane aurichalcite and miss my greatest chance.”

“How did you manage to realise that something was mysterious about the aurichalcite?”

“Because it was ordinary to a fault, without a single lapse in plainness, using all methods to test it still yielded no results. Thinking back, this was certainly the greatest lapse, because even the most useless aurichalcite could not be that ‘ordinary’……”

Ye Fan sighed on purpose as he continued: “Can’t believe that I’m so exceptional, with a simple wave of my hand I actually tossed an object of a similar level to the Desolate Pagoda as though it were an old shoe. It’s a pity that no one saw it, I think the me at that point must have seemed like an immortal descended on earth, suave and exceptional all the way from ancient times till now.”

“Purposefully antagonising people? Are you looking for a beating!” The unscrupulous cultivator was fuming to the point that his nose was going crooked.

Although Ye Fan felt that the fat cultivator was certainly lacking in morals, he was not a vicious and evil person and was thus not quite scared of him as he said: “Daoist please calm down, under the current circumstances the most important thing for you to do is think of a way to fish that piece of aurichalcite out. Who knows, maybe the Desolate Pagoda is also at the bottom within the yin grave. Maybe you didn’t miss out on a precious treasure but rather you can obtain both items at once.”

“It’s impossible for the Desolate Pagoda to be within the yin palace!” Although he said this, the fat cultivator still gave up on dealing with Ye Fan as he seriously contemplated on his next moves.

“I’m going all in, I’ll try again!” The fat cultivator made his way to the deep pond once more, he was simply unable to extricate himself from the temptation of acquiring the mysterious aurichalcite.

“Boom!”

At this moment, within the black and cold pond a large whirlpool suddenly appeared, a sinister evil beast was bobbing in the waters, when it appeared, it could be seen that its body was entirely black as though it were forged from black gold, releasing a strong demonic aura.

Its shape was very weird, it had three heads, the centremost head looked like an orangutan, the ones to the left and right of it were a bird head and a snakehead respectively. Its body was like an underworld horse forged from black gold, there were no feathers or hairs on its body as it was covered with black scales, glinting with a golden light appearing exceptionally strong.

This was an immense beast that was over ten metres long, it roared in the water as it let out low-pitched shouts, making Ye Fan feel as though his soul were shaking as though it would leave his body at any moment.

“Calm yourself and focus!” The fat cultivator shouted: “There really is such a thing, dwelling within places of extreme yin, its roars can shatter a person’s soul. It is an extremely strong unique beast known as the Obsidian Gold Ape……”

This beast with its body glinting with black light, ferocious and yet immense, although it had three heads, it seemed as though only the centre one was perceptive and astute, the left bird head as well as the right snake head could utilise divine abilities but did not have any thoughts of their own, relying on the orangutan head as the lead, thus coming to be known as the Obsidian Gold Ape.
There have been legends however, that the bird head and snake head can also gain consciousness and become intelligent, when the Obsidian Gold Ape advances to such a stage, it can be said to be extremely frightening and other than a peerless expert, there would be simply no way to kill it and its magical power would surge through the heavens.

Ye Fan heard his words as he noted it down and calmed his heart as he gathered his focus. He was shrouded in the light released by the fat cultivator and his soul soon stabilised, no longer having the feeling of instability.

“Boom!’

At this moment, the Obsidian Gold Ape suddenly floated above the black water, stirring up an endless black wave as it rushed towards the fat cultivator and Ye Fan.

“Chi!”

The fat cultivator reacted swiftly as he drew a circle with a single hand, an azure multicoloured sunlight shot forth like fireworks being released, dazzling and filling the area with mist, shrouding himself and Ye Fan within. The black mist and cold water that could shatter boulders were completely blocked as he continued to draw within the sky, writing a big ‘Seal’ word.

“Execute!”

The fat cultivator lightly exclaimed as the ‘Seal’ word within the air became dazzling, as if it were sculpted from a jade rock, tangible with substance as it flew forward with a “Shuaaa”

“Bang!”

It firmly imprinted onto the Obsidian Gold Ape’s body as it emitted “Siii, Siii” sounds, the wisps of cold black mist in the air slowly gathered as they seemed to want to enter into the Obsidian Gold Ape’s body.

“ROAR!”

The Obsidian Gold Ape viciously shook its body as the two heads that were drooping by the side slowly lifted up, the bird head opened its mouth as it spat out a blazing lightning, the snake head hissed as it spat out a black flame causing the entire space to seem to burn.

“Extreme Yin Lightning and Deathfire!”

The fat cultivator was shocked as he hurriedly pulled Ye Fan and retreated, spitting out a blood coloured small shield from his mouth, lights flashing as it fluttered in the wind growing to four to five feet tall as it blocked in front of them.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Snakes of lightning flew about and the black fire blazed as they all rushed onto the shield that was scarlet red like blood, streaks of translucent and sparkling red lights flashed outwards.

“This Obsidian Gold Ape certainly isn’t simple, the left bird head and right snakehead seem to have gained consciousness before but have been pierced and lost their consciousness!” The fat cultivator had a serious expression on his face, if the three heads of the Obsidian Gold Ape simultaneously gained consciousness, even if a strong cultivator were to meet it they would only be left with the option to run.

“It’s fortunate that the two heads aren’t in their best states…..” He softly muttered, the strong attack from the Obsidian Gold Ape made the red jade shield tremble but it eventually managed to block it.

“Chop!”

At this moment, from within the sea of bitterness of the fat cultivator shot forth a dazzling light, that seemed like a brilliant moon as it rushed towards the Obsidian Gold Ape.

“Bang!”

The Orangutan head that was in the centre shot forth two streaks of golden lights from its eyes that collided with the dazzling jade pan that seemed like the moon as the lights shuddered.

The fat cultivator had an expression of surprise as he said: “All three heads seem to have been heavily injured by someone previously, there is a frightening scar there and back then it must certainly have successfully gained consciousness in all three heads, if we met it then I would only have the option to run.”

Not only had the left and right heads of the Obsidian Gold Ape lost their consciousness, the centre head had been severely injured and did not have the demonic might of its peak as it was slowly suppressed by the fat cultivator.

“Bang!”

When the fat cultivator finally wanted to subdue it, the Obsidian Gold Ape viciously struggled as an eye-piercing black-gold glow exploded from its entire body, immediately breaking free from its restraints as it sunk back into the depths of the black pond.

“This thing is certainly fearsome, if its three heads fully recover, only a few people would be able to fully subdue it.” The fat cultivator had a serious expression on his face.

At this moment, the unfathomably cold and deep pond suddenly began to violently undulate as though something were about to rush out from its depths, more ferocious than the Obsidian Gold Ape, a large wave welled from within the black pond as black mist surged in all directions.

Black mist swirled as a bone piercing cold caused many areas of the mountain to crack, many mountain rocks turned to dust after being brushed by the black mist.

“Daoist, didn’t you say that the yin grave was hidden in the darkness and would not float up, why does it seem to frightening now?”

“It could be that I inadvertently did something that stirred up trouble.”

“What did you do?”

“Within the black pond several thousand metres deep, I saw a broken stone plaque with the words ‘Deep Pool’ carved on it, I plucked it out and threw it towards the depths of the black pond to see how deep it went. It could have collided with the demon emperor’s yin grave.

“At that time who would have know that the demon emperor’s yin grave was at the bottom…..”

“Crash!”

At this moment, ripples began to appear on the surface of the deep back pond as a group of yin soldiers wearing black metal armour rushed out, their hands wielded jet black yin knives as a deathly aura surrounded them.

“This is……” Ye Fan was shocked.

The fat cultivator had a startled expression as he pulled Ye Fan and retreated: “What’s going on? What strange things are there within the demon emperor’s yin grave, could this be frightening guardians of the grave? What exactly are these life forms?!”

The ripples continued to appear as broken ancient war vehicles continually appeared from the black pond, carrying with them yin soldiers. Their bodies were fully covered in black metal armour, from the helmet on their head to the plating covering their legs, their hands wielded black yin knives or carried dark spears.

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